Iraq to boost financial support for IDPs to over $3,000

Shafaq News/ Iraq plans to increase financial grants for internally displaced persons (IDPs) from 1.5 million to 4 million Iraqi dinars (approximately 3,040 USD), Minister of Migration and Displacement Evan Faek Jabro announced on Tuesday.

Speaking at the National Forum session hosted by the Ministry of Justice to mark the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Jabro emphasized that the Ministry of Migration and Displacement is tasked with supporting refugees, displaced persons, and migrants abroad. “However, domestic challenges have shifted our focus to addressing the plight of IDPs within Iraq,” she explained.

"Regrettably, IDPs remain in our country, but our ministry's work is entirely humanitarian," she added.

Jabro also highlighted that its ministry has worked to help IDPs return to their original areas through financial grants, currently on hold due to budget constraints, or by focusing on camps and reintegration efforts.

“Efforts are underway to increase financial grants for returning IDPs from 1.5 million to 4 million Iraqi dinars, supporting their return to original or chosen alternative areas,” she clarified.

Moreover, the minister highlighted the ministry's key role in “reviving Sinjar,” working with the Ministries of Justice, Labor, and Social Affairs to rehabilitate the town after a period of severe hardship.

"We have supported Sinjar's residents by providing infrastructure, allocating land plots under the Prime Minister's directives, verifying data, reopening offices for direct engagement, and establishing centers for psychological rehabilitation,” she concluded.

Between 2014 and 2017, more than 6 million people were displaced as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters took control of 40 percent of Iraq, including Mosul, the country’s second-largest city. Since then, 80 percent of the displaced have returned to their homes. However, among the current displaced population, 250,000 individuals are considered ISIL-affiliated, primarily residing in camps and reliant on humanitarian aid, according to UNDP.

Based on a 2023 CSIS report titled “Iraq 20 Years After the Invasion: Humanitarian, Displacement, and Climate Change Challenges”, the US-led coalition that invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003, and withdrew in 2011, resulted in an estimated half a million Iraqi lives lost, the displacement of at least 9.2 million people, and more than 4.7 million facing moderate to severe food insecurity. “Today, 20 years after the initial invasion, the large-scale conflict has ended, yet Iraq remains at perennial risk of crisis.”